Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was far from a flop, but it failed to meet Disney’s sky-high financial expectations. That, in combination with the tepid critical and audience response, will have the Mouse House and Lucasfilm asking what went wrong.
My opinion is that a combination of risk aversion, executive meddling, over-compensating for the online backlash to The Last Jedi and the failure to properly plan out the Sequel Trilogy all had their part to play. Now, however, we’re hearing that Disney’s first reaction on how to pull Star Wars out of its slump is simple: more Darth Vader. Lots more Darth Vader.
Sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us about the Rey/Palpatine twist from Rise of Skywalker months before it hit theaters, and that [SPOILERS] would be revealed as a traitor in the film – say that several future Star Wars movies set between Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi will feature cameos or small appearances from Vader. Their thinking, apparently, is based on the extremely positive reaction to his short role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The climactic corridor attack scene, in which Vader carves his way through the Rebel troops, was shot just four months prior to the film’s release after test audiences said they wanted to see more of him. It’s one of the best bits of Rogue One, so if they want to throw scenes like this into future movies, then I won’t complain.
Right now, it’s unclear in which upcoming pics Vader could appear in. We know there are a couple of potential candidates in development at Lucasfilm though, with one being the project they want Taika Waititi for and the other being Kevin Feige’s movie. However, there’s also word that those working on the franchise don’t want to be too mired down in continuity, so I’d bet that at least some of those projects will be set long before the Skywalker Saga.
In any case, while cameos are all well and good, I worry that the more exposure Vader gets the less screen presence he’ll have. All of his scenes in the original Star Wars trilogy are iconic and while Rogue One did him proud, the more they show of him the less exciting it’ll be. Let’s hope they realize that a little Vader goes a very long way.
